Early Childhood Initiatives : Roles for Child Assessment

1
Early Childhood Initiatives Roles for Child
Assessment
February 15, 2007
2
Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Problem

• Serious concern about school readiness gap
  between at-risk and more advantaged preschool
  children
• Increasing body of evidence on the importance of
  the preschool years for later school success,
  esp. in areas of language development and
  emergent literacy skills

3
Early Childhood Education and Care Closing the
Gap

• Increasing number of young, low-income
  preschool-age children are in early education and
  care programs of some sort
• Widespread belief that high-quality early care
  and education can improve school readiness of
  at-risk children

4
Early Childhood Education and Care ECE as
Intervention

• Widespread belief that research proves that
  high-quality early care and education can improve
  school readiness of at-risk children
• New evidence on ECE interventions that change
  instructional practice and produce meaningful,
  significant growth in children

5
Early Childhood Education and Care Universal
PreK Initiatives

• Many states in the process of/already are
  implementing universal pre-kindergarten

6
Early Childhood Education and Care Objectives of
Universal PreK

• Close the gap, ensure that every child is ready
  for school
• Create early learning and care environments that
  support school readiness
• Professional development
• Curriculum materials/resources

7
Four Roles for Assessment

• Screening on developmental status
• Ongoing monitoring of developmental progress
• Periodic evaluation of acquisition of curriculum
  content
• Estimating point-in-time or longitudinal impacts
  of policy/intervention

8
Screening Assessments

• Typically not linked to a specific curriculum
• Administered to all children in a setting
• Administered by provider, parent
• Child-level data on developmental status in
  multiple developmental domains
• Primary uses
• Children needing clinical assessment
• Developmental areas to watch for child

9
Developmental Monitoring

• May be linked to a specific curriculum, if it is
  a general developmental curriculum
• Administered to all children in a setting
• Administered by provider multiple times a year
• Child-level data on developmental status in
  multiple developmental domains

10
Developmental Monitoring (2)

• Primary uses
• Children needing clinical assessment
• Developmental areas to watch for child
• Possibly can be linked to curriculum supports to
  address developmental areas of concern

11
Curriculum-Based Assessments

• Linked to a specific curriculum, to test
  childrens acquisition of specific knowledge
  (curriculum content)
• Administered to all children in a setting
• Administered by provider/electronically at end of
  major curriculum units
• Child-level data on acquisition of knowledge,
  skills

12
Curriculum-Based Assessments (2)

• Primary uses
• Indicates curriculum areas where additional work
  is needed
• Individualized curriculum planning

13
Assessments of Child Skills, Performance

• Assessment of childrens skills in developmental
  domain
• Norm-referenced where child stands in relation
  to nationally representative norm
• Typically for program-level rather than
  child-level data

14
Assessments of Child Skills (2)

• Conducted by objective child assessors
• Typically based on sample
• Sample of settings (probably for different
  strata)
• Sample of children in setting
• Could be different sample each year
• Best if create longitudinal database, starting
  before initiative goes into effect

15
Assessments of Child Skills (3)

• Primary uses
• Effectiveness of initiative at improving school
  readiness in different domains (closing the
  gap)
• Over time and at specific point
• Basis for cost-benefit analysis